Feedback: Keep your hands off our pensions, Detroit retirees say

Jun. 28, 2013

It is time that we stop thinking of public service pensions as some sort of giveaway and start recognizing them for what they are: earned but deferred compensation. Diminishing or eliminating pensions is akin to not compensating one for their work (that’s illegal) or stealing one’s financial property (also illegal). And anyone who sets out to do such a thing should not be an emergency manager, but rather treated as a criminal.

David Russo

Canton

I have now read in several places that Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr says he’s going to save on Detroit retiree health costs by shifting retirees onto Medicare. Does he (or anyone else) think that those Detroit retirees who are old enough are not already on Medicare? As a Detroit retiree, when I hit that age, I got a notice that I was required to sign up for Medicare, both parts A and B. I don’t know of a Detroit retiree of eligible age that is not on Medicare, and I’m wondering which program we’re going to be shifted to so that our coverage is, as one news media outlet put it, “about the same.” And, by the way, while the general population is being led to think we’re all getting a free ride, please be advised that my Medicare Advantage coverage to supplement Medicare costs me more than $400 a month in addition to the Medicare deduction from my Social Security check.

William M. Worden

Detroit

I am the wife of a retired City of Detroit employee. We are in our 70s. My husband signed on the dotted line to contribute part of his earnings, the foundation of his retirement income built while working more than 30 years for the city. Now, City of Detroit retirees are a “dead-weight legacy,” which made me see red. It is upsetting to be referred to by a remark filled with such ageism. What we really are is a deep-pocket money grab for Detroit’s woes brought on by lying, poorly run city management that illegally lined its own pockets and left us hanging.

The City of Detroit promised that part of my husband’s salary would be allocated and invested by them into his future retirement pension and health care insurance — promises that will not be kept. Now city retirees may lose the money they are owed to Kevyn Orr and the bankers. It is the classic Aesop’s fable of the ants and the grasshopper with an ugly twist.

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To cast the blame on the retirees as the “dead-weight legacy” and take our pension and health care insurance, our livelihood, is inhumane, unjust and immoral.

It is not enough that our savings and investments have taken a terrible loss, another broken promise for better life during retirement, now we look toward loss of pension and healthcare, too. Bankruptcy, a pat on the back for Orr and a kick in the butt for city retirees. A “new and vibrant Detroit” on the backs of its past proud workers. What a legacy!

Bea Zrepskey

Algonac

The police officers and firefighters who risked their lives, or gave their lives, are now asked to give more. Perhaps the meter readers and office workers had less danger, but still gave 40-hour weeks, year after year with the understanding that one day they could retire and have a pension.

As a younger, working professional, you don’t really understand the impact of this decision and how it will add more victims to the mismanagement of the City of Detroit. You don’t understand that, as one ages, they don’t have the opportunity to grow their income when something this devastating happens. Oh, you read this, and you know it in your head, but your heart isn’t sinking with fear, your groceries still come to your table, and your medical care is there if you need it. Until you live it, you don’t really understand it. Certainly, Kevyn Orr sees numbers in only black and white. No one sees the little guy who trusted the system.

The people of Detroit so deserve better than what they have, but riding on the assets of the retirees is simply plain wrong. They gave and now you take. Wrong. Simply and incredibly sad and wrong.

Judy Gilmer

I understand what emergency manager Kevyn Orr is proposing and must agree, grudgingly, with most of it. However, I think every effort must be made to preserve the pensions of retired city workers. If someone is still in their 50s, then maybe they can return to the work force. However, this isn’t an option for the older retirees. Throwing more people into poverty won’t help anybody.

Steve Kandt

Plymouth

The line, “There’s enough blame to go around” will let the real culprits (City Council, mayor) to slink away. Already they are bailing out instead of staying on the job. They will grab their pensions and health care and move out of the city. For years they ignored the problems, failed the city, and now escape unharmed and un-blamed.